So, I was just on the movie thread, and I thought I'd expand it to T.V. It would be fun to hear about what people like.

Now, I realize that serious writers never watch T.V., preferring instead to put all their energy into creating art, but just on the off chance one of you stumbled and accidentally watched a moment of T.V. that someone else was watching - what was it?

I'm watching:

Glee. it got so uneven, I almost stopped. But now I'm glad because this new season has been awesome so far. Well, for one episode, anyway. I really like the singing.

Parenthood. I love this show. Great characters and storylines.

New Girl. Kind of ranchy, but funny.

I started watching Bunheads, because I really like the Gilmore Girls. I'm not sure yet, but I think I like it.

I like TV. I actually can't watch movies because I just don't have the attention span anymore. That requires too much sitting still for too long. With TV I can multitask and still pay close enough attention.

That being said, I go in spurts, which is why I watch TV on netflix and Zune on my xbox. I might watch every day for a week or two, then not watch anything for a month. I am currently watching:

Alphas
Warehouse 13
Leverage
Army Wives (which every writer should check out for a perfect example of character development done extraordinarily well)

I just watched the first episode of Revolution and considering it's by JJ Abrams and Eric Kripke, it's really, really bad. I am hoping it's just got the Pilot Episode Blues where they didn't have the budget yet to do what they really wanted. Lots of great shows needed 3 or 4 episodes to hit their stride so I'm crossing my fingers for this show because the set-up is actually pretty cool. Reminds me of Jericho, which I lovedlovedloved. As it stands with the pilot, however, it just sort of plays like a YA post-apocalyptic knock off. The main character is like a rubber stamp of Katniss.

I very infrequently watch Vampire Diaries, mainly because Ian Somerhalder is so freaking hot I turn into a twitterpated sixteen year old girl when he's on screen. That man could read the back of a cereal box and I'd go all melty. But unfortunately this show has the flaw that ruins stories for me in that I can't stand the main character but love all the supporting characters. My tolerance allows for one or two episodes every now and then.

I also watch Biggest Loser when the contestants don't make me homicidal, but it's not on again until winter.

I'm not a big fan of TV in and of myself, but my husband is a huge TV/movie guy so it's a compromise. He's awesome, though, and has been picking shows I actually enjoy. Though, we never watch them live. We get them from Netflix or borrow discs from my sister, so we're always at least a season behind. So, we are watching:

The Big Bang Theory - finally got caught up with this and anxiously awaiting season 6. Brian (husband) loves and hates this show because he's afraid he's just like Leonard or Raj. Which he is, sort of, but not quite as bad.

White Collar - just started this the other day. So far I love it. It reminds me so much of Ocean's Eleven or The Italian Job that I can't help it.

How I Met Your Mother - my sister got us addicted to this one. I love Neil Patrick Harris. Brian and I are like Marshall and Lily.

Next on the list is Doctor Who, Warehouse 13 (to fill the void in my life since Eureka went off the air), and Leverage.

Last edited by dios4vida on October 1st, 2012, 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Brenda :)

Inspiration isn't about the muse. Inspiration is working until something clicks. ~Brandon Sanderson

I tend to watch more Netflix than real TV, what with not having a real TV, but recently I've been scouring the parts of British comedy that never made it to PBS in the US; I'm waiting right now for the first disc of "Only Fools and Horses", ranked Britain's best sitcom ever but which is completely unknown this side of the pond. So far my favorite was, oddly enough, "Stephen Fry in America"--it was really neat to see the culture I live in examined from the outside--by a really intelligent and funny guy, nonetheless. (I will note that at several points I was embarrassed to be from this country and the South in particular, such as when the guy in Kentucky asked him, quote, "ya'll sure do talk funny over there, doncha?")

I've tried watching a few of the big-name shows from the past few years, but I just can't into them--they all seem to be intricately-plotted emotionally-involved stories of sociopaths, sometimes with superpowers, and while each season is a complete story, they hardly ever have endings. Somehow I'm okay dedicating myself to reading a novel for ten hours, but I just don't like doing it with TV.

Everybody loves using things as other things, right? Check out my blog at the Cromulent Bricoleur and see one hipster's approach to recycling, upcycling, and alterna-cycling (which is a word I just made up).

My husband and I are HUGE Star Trek fans so we just recently finished watching all 7 seasons of Voyager. We also got hooked on Downton Abbey, and can't wait for the next season! Everyone has been telling me to watch Big Bang Theory, but we have yet to make the plunge.

"Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine."
~ Ludwig van Beethoven

Fun! I have a weird range of tastes, so here's what I got (I don't have "real" TV, so this is actually my hulu addiction):

Castle
Bones
Warehouse 13
Big Bang Theory (only available on cbs.com, boo)
Project Runway
America's Next Top Model
The Voice
Face Off
*Eureka WOULD be on this list but the jerks cancelled it.

You know, I only started watching these reality shows about two or three years ago (Project Runway got me hooked), but now I am addicted to the ones that showcase a talent, and, ok, I'm a bit ashamed of ANTM, but would you believe that this show actually convinced me modelling requires some talent? Even if the girls are a bit jerky/catty, but hey, I write MG/YA, so it's all fodder, right?

Oh, man. I have a slight TV addiction. Thankfully, I start to trim the list come Nov/December because some are just that bad.

Once Upon a Time
Revolution*
Bones
NCIS
NCIS:LA
Criminal Minds*
Supernatural*
Fringe*

* = shows that I CANNOT miss. Especially those last three. Fringe will end in a few months and while it will be sad, it's time. Supernatural is straight up YA paranormal eye candy. Nothing more. Criminal Minds is more out of habit right now. It's on the bubble.

I have some SERIOUS issues with Revolution. I feel like now, it's one of those "so bad, it's good" shows. It makes me sad that MST3K is no longer around because this show is PRIME material.

Sommer--we should see about a blog series based on this show. Personally, I want to know how you walk across the midwest in a day...

trixie wrote:
I have some SERIOUS issues with Revolution. I feel like now, it's one of those "so bad, it's good" shows. It makes me sad that MST3K is no longer around because this show is PRIME material.

Sommer--we should see about a blog series based on this show. Personally, I want to know how you walk across the midwest in a day...

LOL I almost threw something at my television when they walked across the Midwest in a day and ended up in the middle of Chicago especially after explaining to us that the cities are falling apart and are dangerous and everything. This is maybe the cleanest apocolypse I have ever seen.

I only got through the first two episodes. I intended to stick with it until after the first 4 which were made all at the same time so I expected they would all suffer from small budget issues but...but I just couldn't do it. It's so terrible. Where are their researchers?? Why don't they have a costume designer going, "How come our apocolypse looks so much more Cosmopolitan and The Walking Dead looks so Homeless Chic?" And like, the bar in the first episode that her uncle works at? Why in a world without electricity would they board up all the windows to keep out the light, forcing them to burn an extraordinary number of candles?? I mean, wouldn't candles be a pretty hot commodity? And why do they use gold as a form of money? What the hell are they going to do with a nugget of gold??? When the apocolypse happens, toilet paper, tampons, iodine, ibruprofin, and condoms are going to become the money of the world. I feel like JJ Abrams and Eric Kripke ended up with their names slapped on the cover of this project, but they can't possibly be the people in charge of it.

Not to mention all the completey unlikeable characters suffer from the Too Stupid To Live syndrome, everyone apparently trained high fantasy sword fighting techniques, and everyone acts in the most selfish, self-serving way possible. Especially the main girl who I just want to punch in her stupid face every time she furrows her brow and looks helplessly at her commrades after they all realize she screwed up like they knew she would, not that they did anything to stop her from putting them in terrible danger.

Argh. Worst show ever. It gets me so angry I need to go make some hot tea and take some deep breaths.

Oh, man, I have a Tumblr account, and you are so right. There are some seriously obsessed teenaged fans out there for this show.

Now I personally cannot get over the fact that Sam is Dean from the Gilmore Girls and yet the other guy's called Dean. Speaking of which, I need to give this show another shot. I tried Parenthood for Lorelei and that was way less fun.

Grimm = great horror creature stuff with a good bad guy who's making friends of the monsters
Once Upon a Time = interesting how they've worked real life into fairy tales
White Collar, Covert Affairs, Royal Pains, and Burn Notice- on the last, I can't find myself really liking the MC as he seems to whiney.
NCIS, NCIS-LA, Hawaii 5-0, NCIS-NY, and one or two more.
I absolutely love the Mentalist - it's hard to believe the guy who plays Patrick Jayne is from Australia.
Leverage is very interesting.
The new Sherlock Holmes shows are okay but both seem to be centered on Holmes being either a druggie or just plain nuts.
Oh yeah, Person of Interest - I really like the Big Brother aspect that the vast majority of us ignore.

Drop by Father Serra's Legacy http://msgdaleday.blogspot.com. Comments always eagerly awaited - but only if you find the item interesting enough to respond to.

Kinda interesting to read everyone else's lists. I've heard of most of those shows but don't watch any, really.

I'm so not a tv watcher. Most of the year I'll watch approximately zero hours of tv a week. But somehow I got sucked in to five shows this fall:
The Amazing Race (I've been a longtime watcher)
Revolution (see post-quote below)
Elementary
Arrow
Firefly*

I have fallen hard for Arrow. Like, I'll-catch-the-rerun-on-Sunday hard. It's got that whole superhero vibe that I love so much in movies and stuff.

And I've been surprised at how much I like Elementary. I am a HUGE fan of BBC's Sherlock, so wasn't sure how I'd like this one. I actually find it really helps for me to not think of him as Sherlock Holmes, but see him as his own character/story.

I've got the DVD set of Firefly and have started watching it one episode a week on one of my free nights. My sister's been pushing me to watch it for years, so finally borrowed it.

Sommer Leigh wrote:

trixie wrote:
I have some SERIOUS issues with Revolution. I feel like now, it's one of those "so bad, it's good" shows. It makes me sad that MST3K is no longer around because this show is PRIME material.

I only got through the first two episodes. I intended to stick with it until after the first 4 which were made all at the same time so I expected they would all suffer from small budget issues but...but I just couldn't do it. It's so terrible.

Haha. I'm not usually one to bail on a show or movie once I've started watching because I can't stand that feeling of not knowing how it ends, even if I'm not that into it... but I'm so close to bailing on this one. Less because of details like walking across the Midwest in a day or being extraordinarily clean and more just that... the plot's kinda slow and I feel no real connection to any of the characters. The ones I'm most interested in are Miles, mostly because he's pretty bad-ass with a sword/fight, the brother Danny, mostly because he's cute, and teen spy guy, also because he's cute and clearly conflicted about his role. And at the point that I realized that I was watching because of superficial I-just-like-to-watch-the-guys reasons, I started to question whether it was really the best use of my time. We'll see. It's too bad, it had a lot of potential.

My blog / Twitter
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"Because if you have at least a modicum of talent and if you live by these six rules, you will make it."
--Robert J. Sawyer, speaking here of Heinlein's Rules.

This fall is killing me with new shows. I just don't have time to watch them all!! Thank god for netflix and Hulu and Zune and my awesomesauce multitasking skills so I don't feel like I'm wasting my entire time when I run through new episodes.

I used to watch Pretty Little Liars and Once Upon a Time, but stopped due to being annoyed at them for a while. I picked both back up a couple of weeks ago when I was too sick to do more than lay on the couch and not move for 5 days. I'm loving the current season of both.

And holy cow I am so in love with Arrow!!! I'm surprised at how well they've adapted the comic book.
I'm toying with returning to The Walking Dead, but I hatehatehate most of the characters and the weird changes they made to their personalities. I all but a couple of them completely irredeemable as human beings. I want to love this show, but right now I'll just reread the comics.

Sommer Leigh wrote:And holy cow I am so in love with Arrow!!! I'm surprised at how well they've adapted the comic book.

Yes! Arrow love! I was vaguely aware it was based off a comic book, but it sure doesn't feel like a comic book adaptation, not the way some superhero movies sometimes do. I'm a little surprised it's been as quiet as it has been on Twitter/wherever. Saw lots of stuff for Revolution, especially the first couple weeks, but virtually nothing for Arrow.

My blog / Twitter
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"Because if you have at least a modicum of talent and if you live by these six rules, you will make it."
--Robert J. Sawyer, speaking here of Heinlein's Rules.

I also was watching Revolution for awhile. I think I got through four episodes, but it was so dang boring that I just turned it off. I don't think anything significant actually happened in those first four episodes, and the shadowing question of, "Will they save Danny this week?" (and by "this week," they actually mean "ever," because I'm convinced it will never happen) only becomes annoyingly repetitive. I mean, really. There was a whole episode about getting a sniper rifle. How is that relative to the plot?

Ugh. Anyway. Enough with that. My top shows right now are:

Merlin (Trying to find season 4 so I can watch it in the U.S.!)
Once Upon a Time
The Office

Merlin is so great. It's a little cheesy at times, but I can't not love it.

Once Upon a Time is just as great as Merlin, still a bit cheesy at times, too, but still awesome.

The Office is so hilarious, and being only 20 minutes an episode, I get through almost ten in a day. I love that show.